DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Fire departments across metro Atlanta need more people to help save lives. But unfortunately, first responders are among those industries hit by the decline in the workforce following the pandemic.
Channel 2′s Jorge Estevez recently worked alongside DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department recruits for two days, from the classroom to the physical training.
“I always felt like I wanted to do work that was rewarding,” DeKalb County Fire Chief Darnell Fullum said about why he took the job.
His sentiment rings true for the recruits as well.
“When people have no choice, I want to be the one who says, ‘Let me help you,’” Dillion Kennedy-Dewar said.
Estevez also met with recruit Seth Williamson, who had previously served as a police officer, went into the private sector, and said he was meant to do.
“I spent eight years in law enforcement in Alabama. I moved over here for a job, and it just wasn’t satisfying me. So I wanted to get back into public safety in some way, but I wanted to do something different. So I came back and decided to join DeKalb,” Williamson said.
Fullum said hiring remains an issue. In April, he told Channel 2 Action News that the department was down about 100 firefighters.
He’s not alone. Other departments are experiencing similar challenges.
Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services report 77 vacancies.
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The Cobb Fire Academy runs two recruit classes annually, one starting in February and another in August.
In Gwinnett County, a spokesperson reports there are 117 vacancies.
“We can’t take for granted that we’re going to get people to apply for this type of work anymore,” Fullum said.
DeKalb recruits go through 40 weeks of training. A bulk of which includes EMT training.
Also, before you go out on a call, there is intense physical training -- from dragging a 165-pound dummy meant to simulate rescuing a victim from a fire to climbing a 110-foot ladder to going into a fire set intentionally in various ways to get the real experience.
Recruits are timed on back-to-back physical drills to work on the team.
Estevez suited up in fire gear and tried it out. No task was an easy one, especially with all of the equipment.
Estevez followed the instructors into the burning building and learned it was dark, smoky, and challenging to navigate. Eventually, the team put out the fire.
Simulations are the best tool to prepare rescuers, but each situation is never the same. The job itself presents endless scenarios and, sometimes, an emotional strain.
Fullum said the department takes that seriously and has changed over the years.
“When I first started, there was an attitude that when you did see something like that, you know, you did just shake it off. Today, we don’t do that,” Fullum said.
Physical health issues are also a concern firefighters face each day, but it goes beyond what they experience inside a fire.
Fullum said firefighters face a higher rate of developing cancer.
“It’s about two and a half times the rate of a normal citizen,” Fullum said.
Changes in the way they operate are aimed at protecting the team. They include gear kept separately from living headquarters, new fire stations built differently with those dangers in mind, and cancer screenings.
The firefighters Estevez interviewed said they do what they do out of a sense of service.
But the department offers other benefits that help retain employees in this challenging environment. They include a salary of $51,000 while in recruit school, which increases to a $53,500 after graduation, a pension plan, tuition reimbursement, a 24-hour shift followed by two days off, and promotion and career opportunities.
If you want to become a firefighter or learn more about the qualifications, CLICK HERE.
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